Does senior leadership in your organization consider you astrategic advantage? Do they think of you and your training colleagues as thego-to people when business challenges arise? If the answer is no (or even ifyou are not sure), then you may be missing out on opportunities to impact yourorganization’s success.
The case study that follows highlights a year of activitiesthat a newly formed training department used to get the word out at PacificLife Insurance Company. When sales training merged with two additional trainingteams—instructional design and media development in the performance and knowledgeservices department—we knew we were facing both opportunities and challenges.
The merger of the three training teams offered great opportunitiesto maximize capabilities across old work boundaries, but we knew that withouteffort on our part, new opportunities might easily be overlooked. We quickly realizedwe needed a plan to bring the organization on board with our new charter.
Developing a brand
How important is a name? Very important, we thought. In thepast, vague department names like “performance and knowledge services” didlittle to illuminate our purpose in the organization. This time around, we chose“life division training”—not terribly creative, but it leaves no question aboutwho we are and what we do. Our intent was to communicate inclusivity. We nowsupported everyone in the division.
We wanted a new logo as well. With talented media developerson the team, we leveraged their graphic design skills to create several prototypes.Members of the team voted for their favorite, and we selected a winner. Today,we use the department logo to brand our training materials and other learning resources.A media developer skilled in After Effects also created an animation of thelogo. (Actually, he created three.) We now place an animated logo at thebeginning of each of our online courses. This reinforces our brand every time anemployee takes an online course.
Getting the word out
As the year progressed, we sought out opportunities to talk withdivision management and share our new charter. To expedite this process, wecame up with an idea for a mid-year event. Using our sales trainers’ experiencein working with our company’s event planning team, we planned a formal coffee breakand invited all division management to attend.
The coffee break was designed as a mini-expo. We prepared ashort presentation that would happen on the “main stage” in one of our large conferencerooms. We set up three tables along the sides of the room, staffing each tablewith members of the team to greet and talk with attendees. We displayedposters, and our instructional design team created handouts to promote severalof our flagship training programs and a new training request process.
We created looping video to play on large screens at each table.When creating the video, one team member suggested we go behind the scenes andvideotape our team at work. That way, we could go beyond “telling” what we doto “showing” how we do it. So, montage footage playing at the tables included staffat work creating training materials, hosting virtual training, building online courses,and delivering classroom training. Attendees were intrigued with the work behindthe scenes required to develop and deliver training.
The coffee break was a huge success. Approximately 60percent of division management attended. People may have come for the coffeeand cookies, but they left with a greater understanding of what our newlyformed training department could offer their areas.
A year in review (or Ants in the Garden)
Nearing year-end, our assistant vice president approachedthe team with a radical idea. On the heels of the successful use of video atthe coffee break, could we create a video highlighting our accomplishments forthe year? The video would replace the traditional PowerPoint presentation thatshe would present to senior leadership. She bravely gave the group total freedomon concept and design. The team jumped at the idea to create an animated motiongraphic video.
After some intense brainstorming, the team landed on mergingtwo fairly wild concepts to illustrate our year of change: an ant farm and agarden. Sounds crazy, right? We did question whether it was wise to portrayourselves as ants in a video for senior leadership. (And I do remember one particularlyunique email string discussing how to draw “cute” ants.) However, oncecommitted to the concept, there was no looking back. Again, we took advantageof talent within the team. Media developers created assets, animation, and editedmusic. A sales trainer did the voice-over work. The purpose of the video was totell our story, go beyond statistics, and highlight how each of the three teams—instructionaldesign, media development, and sales training—had contributed to our success.
The day we provided the final product to management, we werea bit nervous. What would they think? We knew all was well upon learning the vicepresident of business development had shared the video with colleagues atdinner that very evening. Ultimately, the video was included in a presentationdelivered on the main stage at our division’s annual marketing meeting, a realaccolade. While the official title is 2015 Year in Review, it will alwaysbe Ants in the Garden to us.
